Prostitute in slaying of millionaire tech investor to testify for prosecution

In a major breakthrough for the prosecution, the prostitute accused in the killing of millionaire tech investor Ravi Kumra has tentatively agreed to testify against her younger brother, the alleged ringleader of the deadly home-invasion robbery.

Katrina Fritz, 33, already has given a 4 1/2-hour statement to investigators, which not only implicates her younger brother DeAngelo Austin in the Monte Sereno slaying but has also led to the arrest of another man.

Fritz is likely to take the stand in the next few months, prosecutor Kevin Smith confirmed.

"She didn't rob anybody, she didn't kill anybody and she didn't mean for anybody to die," her lawyer Ken Mandel said. "She wasn't even in the county when it occurred."

However, under California law, she is still culpable because the Nov. 30, 2012, killing occurred during the commission of felony robbery. The robbers ransacked the 7,000-square-foot house, punched Kumra's wife, bound and gagged the couple with duct tape, and let the wealthy investor who once owned the Mountain Winery concert venue in Saratoga suffocate despite his wife's pleas to call a doctor.

Sources familiar with the case said Fritz hasn't been promised anything in exchange for her testimony. But the prosecution could very well wind up reducing the charges, which include murder -- possibly down to being a mere accessory, which carries only a three-year sentence.

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Fritz's lawyer declined to say whether his client had anything to do with setting up or being forced to set up Kumra, for whom she had worked as a prostitute. But she has had a rough life, he said. Even the prosecutor noted last month she is the mother of a young daughter and the sole caretaker of her severely disabled adult brother.

Kumra's violent death made international news. According to Kumra's ex-wife, Harinder, who lived in the sprawling mansion despite the couple's divorce, at least three men broke into the gated estate and searched for valuables for up to two hours.

In a macabre touch, the robbers used white tape speckled with black mustaches, putting it over Ravi Kumra's eyes and nose, and ignoring his wife's pleas that he had breathing problems.

Fritz's willingness to testify comes near what was supposed to be the end of a preliminary hearing before Superior Court Judge Linda Clark.

Now, the judge will wait until after Fritz testifies to decide whether there is enough evidence to hold the defendants over for trial. They include Austin and Javier Garcia, both 22, and the recently arrested man, Marcellous Drummer, 26.

Drummer was charged March 7 with the same felonies as the other defendants: murder, two counts of false imprisonment and one count each of robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and making criminal threats, as well as gang enhancements. Smith has said Austin is a member of an Oakland gang called Money Team, while Garcia belongs to the Ghost Town gang, and Fritz acted for the benefit of the gangs. It was unclear Friday which gang the prosecution claims Drummer is affiliated with. All of the defendants, including Fritz, are being held without bail.

Drummer's lawyer James Blackman declined to comment extensively because he just got appointed, but vowed, "This case will be thoroughly and aggressively defended."

Smith declined to comment on the latest developments, but said, "I remain very proud" of how the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno police, the Oakland police and many other law enforcement agencies "continue to work incredibly hard on this case."

Last month during the preliminary hearing in Clark's court, the prosecutor said Fritz may not have been at the scene, but she exchanged multiple phone calls and text messages with her brother before, during and after the killing. Fritz directed Austin to hidden closets that were ransacked, Smith said.

But the prosecutor also laid most of the blame on Austin in his opening statement, saying Austin had a personal motive. Smith contends that Austin believed Kumra had stolen $30,000 from him. The cash had been seized by police months earlier after police arrested Austin on suspicion of violating probation for a residential burglary.

While Austin was in San Quentin, Kumra persuaded police to turn the money over to Fritz, and Austin was still angry about it the night of the robbery, Smith said. But even if the killing was unintentional, he said, the defendants would still be legally responsible.

District Attorney Jeff Rosen is still weighing whether to seek the death penalty in the case or life without the possibility of parole.